China currently has one of the most expansive and impressive high-speed rail networks on Earth, and they aren’t showing signs of slowing. As their network reaches the far corners of their nation, Beijing could be setting its eyes on what lies beyond – far, far beyond.
According to reports, China wishes to build a high-speed, 13,000-kilometer (8,078-mile) train that travels from mainland China, up through Siberia in Eastern Russia, under the sea through the Bering Strait into Alaska, across the rocky peaks of Canada’s Yukon and British Columbia, and into the USA. Once constructed, they have could further extend their international bullet train into every corner of the US.
The price of such an outlandish proposal? A cool $200 billion.
Unfortunately, as impressive as the China-Russia-Canada-America line would be, it appears to have been put on hold for now. Critics have slammed the proposal for being economically redundant, stating that flight and cargo ships are a cheaper option for trade, and too complex. Whether they are right or not, tensions between the world superpowers mean such a collaboration – which would be the most expensive megaproject in world history – could be little more than a pipe dream.
-IFL Science
